


Useless

by flibbertygigget



Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Death, Eliza is the best, F/M, Grief/Mourning, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-18
Updated: 2016-01-18
Packaged: 2018-05-14 16:40:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 536
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5750506
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flibbertygigget/pseuds/flibbertygigget
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Burr hated himself for the vulnerability he showed that night, but he couldn't face the world alone anymore.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Useless

Aaron Burr had never thought he would be so grateful for Alexander Hamilton. Well, not Hamilton specifically. He still butted heads with the man more often than nkt, but Eliza... Eliza was a Godsend.

In the days following the death of his wife, Burr had found himself in a waking nightmare that never seemed to end. He wanted nothing more than to curl up in a ball and disappear, but he had to soldier on. His daughter, his little Theodosia, needed him, and so he sleepwalked through the mire, fixing funeral details and taking time off work until they could find some way to continue. He watched, almost uncomprehending, as his savings dwindled to nothing and the fees for the doctors and hospitals that had failed to save her mounted. He couldn't leave little Theodosia, he couldn't afford to take more time off work, he couldn't...

That was how he found himself at the Hamiltons' mercy, knocking desperately at their door far too late for any decent person to visit. Burr hated himself for the vulnerability he showed to Hamilton that night, but he couldn't face the world alone anymore. Still, despite all that, the thought of his daughter was the only thing that allowed him to go so low as to beg for a loan from Hamilton, of all people. Hamilton opened the door, looking confused, and then Burr collapsed.

Almost before he knew what was happening, Eliza had pushed past her husband and was ushering him inside, leading him by the hand like a child before pushing him into a chair and throwing a warm blanket over him. Burr tugged the blanket closer, staring at Eliza blankly as she knelt next to the chair and gently placed a hand on his arm.

He still didn't understand what had happened that night. All he knew was that when he had broken down, when he had cried, when he had begged for them to help him out of the abyss, the Hamiltons hadn't turned him away. No, more than that, they had offered to help him, even though they had no reason to give a damn.

Burr didn't enjoy the extent to which he was dependant on them, but he didn't have any choice at this point. So he let Eliza look after Theo when he worked until nearly midnight. He let Eliza comfort him when he couldn't help but pour out his grief at her kitchen table. Slowly, gradually, he began to let Eliza try to piece him back together.

He didn't want to let her help him. He wanted to be able to take care of his family, small and fractured as it was, but he couldn't do it alone, no matter how hard he tried to keep it together. Almost without him realizing, the guilt began to give way to profound gratefulness. He couldn't imaging being able to stay alive without her help.

One night, when he had carried Theodosia out to his car and silently accepted the coffee Eliza offered him, they had sat on the stoop in front of the Hamiltons' building, staring at the street lights. It was in that moment that Aaron Burr realized that he wasn't afraid anymore.


End file.
